jones singing there as well. and lindsay lohan's new attorney is quite a character. he arrived in a black hummer with a license plate i'm trying. he carried a louie i have ton briefcase with a rabbit's foot to it for good luck. something lindsay may need with this guy. i'm richard louie and this was "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. ♪ changes this is an important conversation for our children, for our communities, for democrats and republicans. speaking is difficult, but i need to say something important.

>> former congresswoman gabby giffords and her husband are in congress for stricting gun control laws and the head of the nra looks on. good morning, i'm bill karins and this is "way too early." we're glad you're up with us on this thursday, last day of january, 31st. we have a lot to talk about, including john kerry's final farewell in the senate after three decades of service. we'll show you his emotional speech. plus, israel launches a rare strike inside the syrian border. coming up, a live report on what they were targeting and why. first, our top story here at 5:30 a.m. eastern time in new york city. we begin with the first congressional hearing on gun control since the shootings in newtown. gabby giffords who survived a shooting two years ago made an appearance before the senate judiciary committee reading off a page of handwritten prepared remarks, she urged congress to act now. >> too many children are dying.

too many children. we must do something. it will be hard, but the time now. you must act. be bold, be courageous. americans are counting on you. thank you. >> giffords husband mark kelly says expanding background checks should be a top priority but the nra's chief executive yesterday refused to give any ground. >> we know from what happened in tucson that if there was an effective background check which includes having the mental health data and the person's drug use in the case of the tucson shooter into the system and if, in fact, there was no

gun show loophole, i would contend he would have had a very difficult time getting a gun. if background checks are good enough for somebody who is a federal firearms licensed dealer like walmart, for instance where i just purchased a gun a couple months ago, a hunting rifle and i had to good through a background check, why isn't that good for other sales? >> my problem with background checks is you'll never get criminals to go through universal background checks. i mean, all the law abiding people. you'll create an enormous federal bureaucracy. >> we're not going to prosecute the bad guys if they do catch one. and none of it makes any sense in the real world. >> that's the point. the criminals won't go to purchase the guns because they'll be a background check. we'll stop them from the original purchase. you miss that point completely. and i think it's basic. >> senator, i think you've missed it. >> let there be order. >> kelly stopped short of

demanding an assault weapons ban, a gun rights activist offered a perspective we have yet to hear in this debate. >> an assault weapon in the hands of a young woman defending her babies in her home becomes a defense weapon. and the peace of mind that a woman has as she's facing three, four, five violent attackers, intruders in her home with her children screaming in the background, the peace of mind she has knowing that she has a scary looking gun gives her more courage when she's fighting hardened violent criminals. >> a judiciary committee says it hopes to send gun control legislation to the senate floor by late february. we'll hear more from mark kelly when he joins us live on morning joe. to chicago, homicides outnumber days so far in 2013. a teenage girl shot down in a neighborhood playground is a symbol of unending violence in the city. she was shot and killed while

hanging out with friends. pendleton had one week ago performed with a drill team that president obama's inauguration festivities in washington, d.c. the park where she was killed, just a mile north of president obama's home. chicago had 42 homicides so far in 2013 alone despite having strict gun laws on the books. a day after his major speech on immigration in las vegas, president obama sat down for interviews with spanish language networks saying he hopes to have reform laws in place by the end of the year. >> really, the issue here is not so much technical as it is political. it's a matter of republicans and democrats coming together and finding a meeting of the minds and then making the case. and, you know, i'm hopeful that this can get done and i don't think that it should take many, many months. i think is something that we should be able to get done certainly this year and i'd like to see if we can get it done sooner in the first half of the year if possible.

>> the president's proposals follow recommendations from a bipartisan group of eight senators. nar favor of a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented workers in the country. but only after strengthening the nation's borders. he said his administration has been working hard on border security. >> i make no apologies for us enforcing the law as well as the work that we've done to strengthen border security. as a consequence, we've actually seen an 80% drop in illegal crossings and what we've seen is that the people would are being deported, the vast majority of them now are criminals that did not used to be the case. >> the president says he'll put forward his own legislation if lawmakers fail to act. tough questions are expected at today's confirmation hearing for chuck hagel. the president's nominee to be the next secretary of defense. he is expected to offer his views on the big deep budget cuts facing the pentagon. they're unable to avoid sequestration.

on iran, the senator told congress in written remarks he would be prepared to strike that country if necessary but stressed the need to be cautious and certain when considering the use of force. bipartisan joe biden yesterday defended hagel and john kerry from critics who say they're concerned the president's new national security team would be hesitant to act. >> to suggest that two war heroes wearing the bronze star, purple heart, silver star taking over both the -- excuse me, state department and defense is a -- whatever the phrase was, is ridiculous. >> to be sure to join us on msnbc. we'll have live coverage of hagel's confirmation hearing following "morning joe." he can only hope his hearing goes as smoothly as john kerry's who nomination as the next secretary of state sailed through the senate. the long time lawmaker strugled to hold back emotions as he said farewell to the chamber where he served for the last 27 years. >> standing here at this desk that once belonged -- at this

desk that once belonged to president kennedy and to ted kennedy, i can't help but be reminded that even our nation's greatest leaders and all the rest of us are merely temporary workers. i'm reminded that this chamber is a living museum, a lasting memorial to the miracle of the american experiment. >> john kerry, departing the u.s. senate. massachusetts governor patrick announced an interim replacement boston lawyer mo you could en. the decision means the first time in american history there will be two african-american u.s. senators serving together. elizabeth warren now becomes the senior senator in the bay statement it took kerry 24 years to earn that title. only after the death of senator

ted kennedy in 2009. american officials say israeli warplanes struck syria yesterday targeting high-tech weapons which they believe were on their way to hezbollah militants in lebanon. it happened just outside of da mat cuss and marked the first attack by israel against syrian targets in some five years. the incident raised new concerns that syria's on going civil war threatens to spill over into a wider regional conflict. the syrian government condemned the attack and insisted the air strike hit a research site, not a weapons convoy. our correspondent joins us live from cairo. what is the reaction to the air strike today in the middle east? >> reporter: well, good morning, bill. there is strong condemnation from several parts starting in cairo with the arab league which said that israeli air strike is a violation of sovereignty but more importantly russia syria's strongest ally and the supplier of the alleged weapons that were actually being carried in that

convoy which we believe to be according to western sources to be air defense missiles going to hezbollah. russia which makes those weapons, supposedly, has condemned the israeli attack as well saying that it, too, was a violation of syria's sovereignty. there's no doubt that there is growing concerns in israel and in the west that weapons, particularly sophisticated weapons including syria's arsenal of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of hezbollah which then in turn could be used at any potential future conflict between that group and israel. there have also been condemnation towards israel for violating lebanese airspace. allegedly the flights that took place to attack syria flew over lebanon and according to lebanese government officials, they will file a complaint with the united nations and also hezbollah says it has the right to defend lebanese airspace and territory if violations like this take place. again, you get a sense that something like this, this drastic air strike on syria

could really enflame the region and really could push the conflict beyond the borders. >> we'll watch during the day. thanks. now to business. wall street is feeling cautiously better about facebook this morning after a surprise fourth quarter of 2012. here at "way too early," we've been very supportive of facebook, right? we never, ever bash them. yeah, we love the facebook. the social media company saw a 40% jump in revenue largely due to successfully integrating advertising into their mobile apps. for more on what to expect from facebook in 2013, let's go to our reporter live for us in london. a few of us are a little tough on fp after tacebook after the launch. maybe they're getting the last laugh. >> maybe. the shares lost over half of the val yew ov

value of the ipo. now the shares are rallied since mid-november over 60%. have they justified it? as you mentioned, we saw a big increase in revenues to $1.6 billion that, is a 40% increase. they doubled the mobile app revenues. they came off a base where they didn't have a lot. they have a lot of low hanging fruit to get. there is a bit of a caveat. this company, in order to keep ahead of the opposition, in order to grow the business, needs to spend about 50% more next year on expenses including recruiting talent. they need to keep the revenue figures going if they're going to stay ahead of the pack. but a lot of questions still remain about the facebook model. but for the moment, at least, it appears that justifying some of the more bullish estimates out there. back to you. >> steve, something to watch closely. yet, again, they have billions of users. who knows how it's going to end up. let us know why you're awake. shoot us an e-mail at "way too early." can you tweet me. we'll read the best responses later in the show. still ahead on "way too early," the man behind the hoax speaks out.

manti te'o's fake lover tells dr. phil why he spent years pretending to be a girl. very disturbing. and that's next in sports. plus, a leaked super bowl ad that is offensive and racist by some is being defended by an unlikely source. that story and a check on all the crazy weather around this country when "way too early" comes right back. a new family of new atomic weapons is perfected and the greatest of these is the h bomb, the hydrogen bomb, the super bomb. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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all that nasty stuff that hit the south, going through new england this morning through the peak of the morning rush hour. let me break down the weather for you. again, the radar and wind gusts tell the story. airports were a mess yesterday. they'll be that way once again this morning. the numbers aren't temperatures. those are the wind gusts. we had a wind gust at loeg an airport in boston of 59 miles per hour. that's enough to do a little bit of damage and knock down trees. providence gusting to 50. connecticut, earlier bridgeport had a gust of 61. i'm sure there are power outages in southern new england. give it two, three hours and then it will improve. the temperatures will drop and then get cold. we have snow showers in pennsylvania through pittsburgh and erie and buff will alo. so temperatures will be dropping. it's warm they are morning. it will get colder as the day goes on. look at buffalo and pittsburgh. highs in the upper 0s. you want to talk about cold? now we get rid of this storm, arctic air returns in a big way to the northern plains. minneapolis is going to have a high today of 1. we're talking dangerously cold with the wind chills in the northern plains.

chicago, very cold today after the record heat. so we justin on these amazing roller coasters. these are not misprints. that is the actual wind chill this morning in north dakota, bismarck is at minus 40. and rolea, north carolina, has a wind chill right now of minus 47, the lowest in the country. bundle suppan understatement. let's turn to sports. we have new insights into the man who has admitted to perpetrating the girlfriend hoax against manti te'o. he spoke to dr. phil about his motivation about entering into an online relation health care plan with te'o that lasted for a span of three years. >> here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in will have. >> did yhe say that? >> i asked him straight up, was this a romantic relationship with you? he says, yes. i said are you then, therefore, gay? and he said, well, when you put

it that way, yes. and then he caught himself and said, i am confused. >> if that doesn't disturb you enough, the full interview with the man who says he was in love with manti te'o will air in two parts today and tomorrow on the dr. phil show. to the nfl now where instead of celebrating his upcoming retirement, ray lewis spent most of yesterday's presides confere defending himself for using deer antler spray. >> our world is a very secret society. we try to protect our world as much as we can. but when you let cowards come in and do things like that, you know, to try to disturb something, i said it before. i said it a million times. the reason why i'm smiling is because it's so funny of a story. i never, ever took what he says i -- or whatever i was supposed to do.

you're not angry. you can't use a different word. you can use the word agitated because i'm here to win the super bowl. i'm not hear to entertain that doesn't work that or another. agitated? angry? nothing from the outside can affect me to be angry. >> because you'd expect nothing frels our great nation, there's been a run on deer antler spray. in google searches on the sale of the product at an all time high. kind of catchy bottle. to the basketball now where brooklyn nets thought it would be smart to piss off lebron and the champion heat right before they played them. reggie evan dismissed the championship last season saying to the daily news, "it doesn't prove nothing. that was a lockout season." genius. so to the game now in brooklyn. is this predictable? pick it up in the third. chaumers makes the steal, pushes

it down the floor. dwyane wade, that's easy. lebron james with the alley-oop. after being tied at the half when i went to bed, very curious to see what the final would be. a 26-5 run by the heat. lebron easy fade away. that's over a 7 footer. i guess it wasn't too easy. rainbow jumper. the heat win big. they won by 20 after being tied at the half. what happened? lebron had this to say. "you can't just come out and say something like that versus a champion. no one knows what it takes unless you've done it. evans hasn't done it". that's mild. go to the twitter feed and see what else he had to say. coming up on "morning joe," she makes an appearance on capitol hill to call on congress to clamp down on gun violence. the "morning joe" crew reflect on the former lawmakers remarks and what it may mean for the debate in guns in america. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler where jon stewart weighs in on the republican about-face when it comes to immigration reform. lewis has more on. that. plus, a super bowl ad

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enough with the real news. lewis, what are we talking about today? >> well, bill, i know you're very excited for the super bowl. >> i actually am. >> after all the comments that you've made. going to be losing a lot of money, my friend. >> that's a different story. >> you know me, i'm just

watching for the free cheese dip and commercials. some are already causing trfrs like this voekz clip. take a look. >> turn the frown the other way around. you know what this room needs? a smile. ♪ in the sun that we're singing ♪ ♪ come on and get happy >> you're three minutes late. >> don't be a cloud on a sunny day. >> some say the ad is racist. jamaica is a huge fan of the ad. he told usa today, "we view atz a compliment. people should get into their inner jamaica and get happy." >> it wasn't that funny. >> well, you know, all i can say is that jamaica is a great place. the people are happy. and one love baby. one love. that's it.

this week a group of bipartisan senators proposed plans for immigration overhaul. jon stewart is a little suspicious of the republicans' motives. >> what would you do about immigration? >> as your congressman on the house floor, i'll do anything short of shooting them. >> any one else? >> i'll build a 20 foot fence. >> it will be 20 feet high and have barbed wire on top and be electrified. >> that's why the events of this week came as such a surprise. >> a major breakthrough on immigration reform. >> why the sudden change, republicans? perhaps you looked into your hearts. >> look at the last election. look at the last election. we are losing dramatically the hispanic vote. >> okay. or that. that's another reason. squeeze out enough votes to make nevada competitive again. that's true, too.

not the reason you're supposed to say out loud. but you've come a long way. well, you've come away. >> well, they could write a book on what not to do as a candidate. wnchts great sadness, we say good-bye to the show that we live here every day, nbc's "30 rock." after seven sins, liz lemon and jack donahe sign off with a one-hour episode on nbc. god, doesn't get any better. >> waunt want to hear something shocking? i've never seen an episode. i figure one day i'll be sick and i'll watch the whole box set. >> i'll get you with the birthday gift. >> start with season one. >> as long as you're nice to me. >> that's my pledge. >> okay. >> you heard it here. >> until tomorrow. >> still ahead on "way too early." why are you awake? your texts, e-mails and tweets is next. "morning joe" is just moments away. officemax knows...

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